I was recently reading an article titled “What Happens to Bad Teachers?” The article suggested that “getting rid of problem educators is a lot easier in theory than in practice.” This got me to thinking, (a) Who hired them in the first place, and (b) What constitutes an exemplary teacher? My wife has been in the teaching business for the past sixteen (16) years, the last four as a middle-school principal. Identified as a Title 1 school with over 50% poverty (53.4), she has guided that school to the School of Promise award for three of the four years, and Exemplary School status for 2009. That level of achievement, over the past four years, with only four years at the helm, in any school – far more a Title 1 school, suggested to me that she may know a bit about teachers and teaching. So rather than talk about “bad” teachers whom, it is suggested in the article, are hard to dismiss, I elected to focus on the attributes of an exemplary teacher. My simple question to her was; “What is an exemplary teacher?”

Her response: “Willing to remove any barrier in the way of that child’s learning – willing to teach that child coping skills to deal with barriers affecting learning. A teacher who would give up lunch, come in early, or make a home visit at the drop of a hat.”

That got me thinking. I have no answers to my questions. I just have a whole lot of questions for you.

How is an exemplary teacher developed?

How is an exemplary teacher nurtured?

How early should “child barrier removal” be initiated?

What are these potential barriers?

Are teachers trained in barrier recognition?

Are teachers trained in barrier removal?

What if a child does not have control over barriers?

Are environmental barriers different from biological or neurological barriers?

Do they require different learning and training?

What is the nurture/nature relationship with barriers and barrier development?

Are barriers more evidenced in certain populations that in others?

Are barriers different relative to social land/or ethnic differences of the populations being served?

If “yes” do we have specialized teacher training in barrier recognition and removal?

Is there remuneration for training specialization?

What schools/colleges/universities are particularly good at training for barrier recognition and removal?

It seems to me that it would do us well to go backward and recognize universities that consistently produce exemplary teachers, and highlight those that do not.

Bad teachers come from somewhere. Exemplary teachers come from somewhere. Identify the farm. Identify the farmer. Don’t wait until you buy crappy fruit and then blame the fruit. That just means that you suck at selecting good fruit.